Moments
by SheWolfShaman
Summary: What she first realized was that she was safe with him. What he first realized was that he wanted to know more about her, be there for her. Neither of them knew what was happening, but they knew something was definitely changing, and that they wanted it to happen. And so began their series of moments. BBxRae. Rated T because of chronic paranoia.
1. No Goodbyes

**(A/N) Hey guys. I have writers block for the other stuff I'm writing, so I've decided to do a one-shot to get my creative juices flowing again. This is BBxRae, because I'm officially obsessed with that couple. Enjoy! Or else...**

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_**No Goodbyes**_

She held the framed photo in her hand with a delicate grasp, making sure to not scratch the glass or otherwise damage it. Her violet eyes studied the picture, even though she already knew every visible detail, as well as the details that weren't visible. She knew the person behind the picture. The way she walked and talked, the rough and smooth spots of her personality, and the light behind her eyes. She knew all of it. Yet she still studied the picture as if it were her first time seeing it. The white hooded robe and tall figure, with an outstretched hand that a pure white dove used as a perch. She looked at the flowing purple hair hidden beneath the hood, then the shining violet eyes. The picture could in no way capture the brilliance of them. She inherited that hair, those eyes.

"Happy birthday," she whispered, trying desperately to not let tears fall. She had never let herself become susceptible to tears, and she hated that lump in her throat she was now getting. Normally she would meditate to make these feelings become muted. However, just as much as she hated the lump in her throat, she wanted to feel something today. It was a special day after all.

She pulled the folded paper from where it was wedged within the frame. There were two papers, actually. The first was one she herself had written, while the other one belonged to the woman in the picture. She opened the first, then began to read.

_Dear Arella, dear Mother,_

_I didn't want to leave you like this, and I'm sorry. I just don't think I can take it, living there anymore. I love you, and Azar, and the monks, and all the people, but I need something else. I need to do something else besides wait for my fate to come around. I've always hoped I wasn't a part of his plans for me, and now I'm trying to create a new path for myself. I know I'm part of a better plan, a grander plan, and I just can't see that plan on Azarath. That's why I'm leaving. I'm leaving to find my own way, using what Azar taught me, what you've taught me. I'm not sure where I'm going yet, but I think I'll be going to Earth. Azar was always telling me stories of Earth, and it seems like just the kind of place where I can make a start for myself. I'm not running away. I'm just moving forward. I hope you understand. This isn't my goodbye to you, either. There are no goodbyes. This letter I'm writing to you is just a promise that I'll see you again. I love you Mother, I really do._

_Your daughter, Raven._

Looking at the letter, the lump in her throat was growing. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, breaking her from her concentration.

"Raven? You in there? It's afternoon, and you haven't been out of your room all day," came the voice of, surprisingly, Beast Boy. "Are you okay?"

She masked the pain in her voice to the best of her ability. "I'm fine, Beast Boy. I'm just… reading," she told him, knowing that it was technically true. "I want to be alone right now," she added.

"Are you sure? You've been acting kind of weird lately," he said. "What are you reading?"

"Nothing. Now, leave," Raven said, betraying a bit of emotion.

She heard nothing else from Beast Boy, and so she assumed he left. She turned and looked back down at the papers in her hands. She had received this letter back, the day she'd gotten the other one, only the paper had something new on the back. In incredible detail, a dove and a raven were drawn, facing each other with olive leaves in their beaks.

The words of her mother came back to her now like the sharp blade of a knife. _"It was too late for Earth, just as it was too late for Azarath,"_ her mother had said to her in the vision. _She knew it was going to happen. That's why she sent my letter back._

Raven took the second piece of paper in her hands, then began to read.

_Dearest Raven,_

_I found your letter to me soon after you left. I must say, I was surprised. Do not confuse surprise with disappointment, though. I wasn't surprised that you had taken the next step. I've always expected that. I wasn't surprised that you've gone to Earth. Earth was the right place for you to go. I wasn't surprised at the part of your soul you put into that letter, either. No, I was surprised that you thought I would not understand. I have never been more proud of you, my dearest daughter. You're making your own road in life, and are choosing not to follow the paths laid before you. Never let anyone decide your fate, Raven. Never. No one can tell you whether you made the right choice but yourself, but you already knew that. I completely understand why you've left, and it brings me great joy that you've dared to hope in your life. You are not who people tell you you are. You are who you decide to be, and you've decided to be something more. You are indeed a part of a grander plan, Raven. You are more._

_You need not ask for acceptance from me, nor your people. You've always had that. Azarath has always loved and accepted you, dear daughter. While some say you were laid upon a dark path, we have always believed that you were destined for more. You deserved a chance, and now you're taking that chance and making it into something real. I've never been more proud of you._

_I love you more than air. Now, go. Find your path, Raven. And remember, no goodbyes. We will, after all, see each other again._

_Love, Mother._

Raven finished reading, then looked the letter over again, thinking about the words her mother had written her. She had considered this letter perhaps a thousand times, and each time she found something new in it. "Well, I did it," Raven whispered. "Thanks to you."

Her voice was quivering. Today was Arella's birthday, and the anniversary of Raven's departure from Azarath. On this day years ago, she had left nothing but a note at her home in Azarath, then fled through a portal to Earth. She had never gone back to visit, not once. She was, admittedly, afraid to go back. She didn't want to go back and face the people she had abandoned. When she finally did go back, it was too late. Azarath was destroyed, up in flames.

"I'm sorry, Mother," she said, looking down at the picture again. "I should have been there. I should have driven Trigon away before he got to you."

_It's my fault,_ was all Raven could think._ If only I could've helped you._

She had only ever known two people as her true family, Azar and Arella. Azar was the monk who taught her. Arella was the mother who kept the spawn of a demon. Arella not only kept her, but loved her. Raven looked down to the paper again.

_I love you more than air. Now, go. Find your path, Raven. And remember, no goodbyes. We will, after all, see each other again._

She nearly crumpled the paper. _No, we won't,_ Raven felt like screaming. She rarely ever let her emotions get the best of her, but it seemed as though she couldn't stop what was coming. _We'll never see each other again, so I guess we should've just said our goodbyes._

Raven gripped the stone frame with the picture of her mother in it. She had taken that picture with her when she first left, and had kept it for years. Now, she gripped it so hard in her fists she thought the glass might crack.

"I can't always be in control," she said, before heaving the picture frame against the wall of her room with as much force as she could muster. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces before the frame fell to the ground with a thud, the photo separating from it. The picture of her mother floated down to the floor on its own. Raven looked down at her hands that had just smashed the frame, then curled her knees up to her face. She buried her face in her knees and arms, fighting back tears.

"Raven!" Beast Boy yelled from the hallway. What is he still doing out there?

"What?!" Raven yelled, letting a spark of her powers shoot out from her, hitting the door. The door to her room flung open with a crash. She heard his hesitant footsteps into the room.

"Raven? What happened?" Beast Boy asked gently. "I heard a crash. Are you okay?"

She looked up at him, but didn't answer. He stood above her, kneeling down beside her and hesitantly laying a hand on her shoulder. She didn't hold back anymore, and the stream of tears began to flow from her eyes. They blurred her vision, but she could still see him bending over the pile of glass and pulling up the picture. She could see his pointed ears dropping.

"Rae?" he said, barely audible as he looked at the picture.

He bent over the papers in front of her, the letters. Raven didn't stop him as he looked them over, but his eyes only searched that last paragraph of the letter from Arella. _And remember, no goodbyes. We will, after all, see each other again._

Beast Boy looked at her, and she looked back at him through her tears. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Beast Boy knelt down to the floor beside her, then pulled her into a hug. She didn't know why she didn't pull away. She didn't know why she was allowing this. All she knew was that she wanted to bury her face into his shoulders as she let her tears come, and so that was what she did. As she began to breathe hard and gasp with her tears, he just kept holding onto her. He didn't judge her.

"Don't worry, Rae," he told her into her ear.

"I didn't say goodbye to her," she said through her gasps.

"No goodbyes," Beast Boy said soothingly. "You'll see her again."

Both of them knew they would never acknowledge any of this ever happening, but they also knew that neither of them would ever forget this moment. By morning, they would pretend it had never happened. For now, though, she felt safe to let her tears come, while he comforted her. It was a moment of unity.

This was what she first realized. She didn't have to hide around him. She knew she was safe.

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**(A/N) I know. Cheesy, right? Who doesn't love extra cheese on their pizza though? What'd you guys think of the one-shot? This will be my get-away for whenever I have writer's block for my other stories, which I have yet to post. I may update this very often, or I might never post another chapter again. You read at your own risk. Okay, bye! And don't forget to review before you leave!**


	2. Changing

**(A/N) Greetings, my followers! Thanks for all the reviews for last chapter! ****_I feel so loved!_**** This, of course is chapter two. It's centered around Beast Boy's perspective, and has been bouncing through my mind for a week without any progress in the actual idea of it on paper. That is, until today! Here you go!**

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_**Changing**_

_"Oh, Raven, come on! Why can't you just have fun like normal people? Why are you always locked in your dark room reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?!_"

He remembered those words now vividly as he was laying in his bed. _God, did I really say that?_ He had, and he was ashamed of himself. Back then, he hadn't cared too much. He wasn't sure when it changed for him, but he knew that _something_ was changing. The thought of it scared him, but left him with an oddly pleasant feeling in his gut. It was a lot like how he felt when he was soaring through the sky as a hawk, or running over the ground as a cheetah, or swimming swiftly as a fish. It was a lot like how he felt when he morphed, but it was different, too. He just didn't know how.

"I'm never getting to sleep, am I?" he asked himself, talking to himself. "Eh, I was feeling like a spin around the tower, anyway."

He silently slipped from his covers and checked his bedside clock. It was one-thirty in the morning, not too late considering the Titans had stayed up much later on many different occasions, even if they weren't trying to catch criminals. They were all teens, so of course they stayed up late. Still, Beast Boy didn't want to accidentally wake up his friends, so he walked as quietly through Titan's Tower as possible, heading up the top flight of stairs to get to the roof.

He walked out into the crisp cool night and breathed in the salty ocean air, smiling to himself. His senses were much stronger than the average human, so he could much more enjoy the scents on the wind or the bright vibrancy of a night filled with stars and a full moon. He never told anyone, but it was on nights like this that he loved going for a run around the island Titans Tower was on, or take a flight through the sky, or simply just stand there and enjoy it. It helped him think, or at least, relax. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't just all laughs all the time. He needed a break from it every now and then. With this in mind, he leaped into the air as a barn owl.

He loved how flying took him away from everything else, made him forget about everything. It was an incredible feeling, to stretch your wings and feel the wind carry you up. Up in the sky, wind was a solid thing, and Beast Boy could feel it take shape under his wings and under each individual feather. He flew up into the clouds, then dived down to the sea, then back up. He was feeling brave today, so he was doing flips and twirls in the air, doing stupid little stunts. He changed into a shark and went below the surface of the sea, going down deep then swimming back up like a torpedo. He jumped through the surface and changed back into an owl. He also liked to do things like flying high in the air, then changing into a completely random animal or back into a human and feel himself free-falling. He would morph into a bird again at the last second, but it was the falling sensation that he loved. It was at times like that he couldn't help but think he couldn't lose. He didn't have anything to lose, just everything to gain.

He was definitely feeling brave today.

He spent what he guessed was an hour doing this, burning off those annoying thoughts and confined energy. Perhaps, when he got back to his room, he would be able to relax now that he'd gotten that out of his system. He began to descend from the sky, flying back towards Titans Tower, only to see an odd sight on the roof. With his owl eyes, he could clearly see that it was, of all people, Raven there on the roof. He wondered briefly whether he should just find a different way back inside, but instead decided to stay on his current course. After all, he was feeling brave today.

He was surprised she didn't notice him as he morphed back into a human at the edge of the roof. Granted, he wasn't in her field of vision. Raven was at the opposite end of the roof from him, by the edge. She was just sitting there like she was meditating, but he could see right away that she wasn't. Her eyes were open, and she was looking up at the moon and stars. His curiosity piqued, and he made his way quietly to her end of the roof.

He thought about how he should make his presence known, but he didn't really think it mattered. "Hey," he said, then silently gulped as she jolted a bit in her spot. She didn't turn around to look at him, though, and the surprise wore off.

"What are you doing on the roof?" she asked without much interest.

He gave a laugh. "I could ask you the same question. It's, like, three in the morning."

"You're never on the roof," she retorted. "I'm always up here."

"Not at this time of the night… or morning, or… whatever," he said, laughing again at his own fumble. He watched her mouth to see if she laughed, even though he knew she never did. Sure enough, she didn't even give the faintest of smiles. He always watched, though, just in case. He was constantly asking himself why he felt the need to make her, out of everyone on the team, laugh.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked again, and he detected an edge of annoyance to her voice. He wondered why he always managed to irritate her, even if he didn't want to. He did it on purpose a lot, just because it was amusing to get under her skin. Other times he didn't mean it, though. Other times, he didn't want to annoy her, but it always ended up like that, anyway.

"I came out here to burn off some energy," he answered her, not mentioning that the steam he had built up was due to thinking of her. "I went for a flight, did a little swimming, maybe a few stupid tricks. All in a night's work for Beast Boy."

He expected her to tell him what she was doing on the roof then, but she remained quiet. He watched her, realizing she still hadn't even turned to look at him. She was still looking towards the night sky. The moon and stars were half hidden behind various clouds, and the rays of light curled over the clouds to make little shadows on the roof. That was when he saw something different on her face, something he rarely saw. It was fear, and he realized he didn't like seeing her afraid.

"Rae?" he ventured. "You okay?"

She stayed quiet for a minute, and he wondered if he should've just kept his mouth shut. The pause didn't last, though. "Why do you ask?"

He knew he'd get nowhere by asking her about her fearful expression, so instead he took a different approach. "Raven, why are you up here on the roof?" he asked, being careful to not sound neither overly gentle nor completely brash.

"I don't really want to talk about it," she replied. She hadn't completely denied the existence of a reason for her presence on the roof, which he guessed was probably the best he'd ever achieved in terms of communication with the empath.

Still, he had to go further, and he had a theory for why she was up here. He could tell by the strange look on her face, because he'd had that look many times, especially after his parents died in the boating accident, or when Terra first left, or when they defeated Trigon. "Rae, did you have a nightmare? Is that why you're up here?" he asked carefully.

She still didn't meet his eyes. "Gee, how could you tell?" she replied. Her voice was full of sarcasm, like it was foolish that Beast Boy had suggested such a thing, but he could from her voice that it was true. And she showed that in her voice on purpose, Beast Boy realized. She _wanted_ him to know she was there because of a bad dream.

And yet, she wasn't talking about it any further. "What was in the dream?" he prompted, because he was feeling brave today. She gave a huff.

_Why do I have to care so much?_ Beast Boy wondered. Then he remembered those words he'd said to her a long time ago. It had happened awhile ago, but he remembered every vivid detail with growing shame, because he knew he'd hurt her. _Oh, Raven, come on! Why can't you just have fun like normal people? Why are you always locked in your dark room reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?!_ He remembered her in the days that followed that. She had said she was sad because of Malchior, but he knew it had to do with him as well.

"What was in the dream?" he asked again, because he didn't want to think of her hurting anymore. He had always known her as the strongest person he'd ever met, but even the strongest people needed to have someone else so they wouldn't be alone. They needed someone else to know them, to learn about them.

Raven never let people in her mind, though, and he finally connected it all. He felt the need to do nice things for her, annoy her, or to do anything to get her involved because she never let anyone learn who she really was. She didn't let people inside her head.

He realized that he wanted to know more about her, be there for her. He realized he wanted to be the one to get inside her head.

And she still hadn't answered him. He thought he was being stupid, but he was feeling brave today. "C'mon Raven, talk to me," he said, feeling irritated himself. "You never open up. You never let anyone get close to you or learn about you." She still hadn't turned to face him. He was talking to the side of her head.

"You've been in my mind," she replied with her usual monotone.

"Yeah, but I've never gotten to know you. You never let anyone _really_ get to  
know you," he replied. "You've never _really_ let anyone inside your head."

"So… what? You want me to start giving you the story of my life? That's not going to happen," she said.

He sighed. "You could just start with your dream, maybe," he told her.

"Why?" she asked. "What does it matter to you?"

He suddenly remembered the hug she'd given him after Malchior betrayed her. He remembered her voice, so devoid of hope and so full of sadness. He never wanted her to feel like that again. Something was definitely changing for him.

"Because I care," he replied. "Because I want to know more about you and be that person who gets in your head."

She didn't answer him, and he found that he knew exactly what to say next.

"Rae, we've got nothing to lose. We've just got everything to gain," he told her.

That was when she faced him, and those fearful violet eyes didn't hold as much fear now, but more of a curiosity, somewhat like his own. He saw her give the faintest of smiles as she began to speak. I finally made her smile, he thought. He listened to her words with rapt attention, and found that he was smiling himself. It felt kind of like when he was free-falling. That same amazing feeling of being somewhere you never thought you'd be, doing something completely different. He was free-falling again, and Raven would be the one to catch him before they began their flight again.

It was a moment of understanding.

Something was definitely changing.

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**(A/N) So, I don't know whether to call this a series of one-shots centered around Beast Boy and Raven or just a string of moments between the two. I kind of like the second, because it means the stories are connected in some way, even though it may not show evidence of the connection in the writing.**

**Well, anyways, what'd you guys think of this chapter? It's review time!**


	3. Transformations

**(A/N) Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews last chapter! Here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

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_**Transformations**_

Robin had a black eye. Starfire was covered in slime. Cyborg needed to build himself a new leg. Needless to say, the battle didn't go too well. Sure, they defeated Plasmus, and he was back to jail, but it wasn't exactly their best moment. Beast Boy walked away with the most damage, but at least he walked away. He took a pretty big fall, or rather, a pretty big crash.

"It's not bad," Beast Boy had told her, although she could see the lie in his eyes. It was easy for her to tell he was lying, considering she was an empath and could feel his underlying emotions. She ignored the fact that she'd also felt some strange emotions coming from him lately, namely because she could tell that even he didn't know what they were.

"Yes, it is bad," she replied. "It looks like you broke your arm, not to mention all the bumps and bruises."

"He caught me by surprise," Beast Boy said. "You got lucky, though. Not a speck of slime hit you. You haven't got a single scratch from that fight."

"Because I'm careful," she replied, amused. "I don't go into a fight overly confident, brash, or without already knowing what I'm doing. It's called pre-planning and caution."

Beast Boy gave a mildly amused chuckle as he sat himself down on the infirmary bed. "Yeah, I'll put that on file for future reference," he said in that light-hearted manner he'd always had.

"I'm serious, Beast Boy," she told him. "You're lucky it wasn't worse."

"Oh, c'mon, that was nothing!" Beast Boy scoffed.

"Says the boy who got hit by a car today," she went on, looking down at the splinted arm in its sling. "And not just a car driving by. You got hit by a car when it was thrown through the air at you."

"It was a lucky shot," Beast Boy said, wincing as she moved his arm over the table. His expression mellowed once she began to heal the arm. "Good thing we have our own on-sight doctor."

"Yeah," she replied, rolling her eyes. "You mess up, and I'm the one stuck healing you for an hour."

"Could be worse," he said, and she looked up at him. "You could be eating the leftover meat loaf along with everyone else, and you could be listening to their complaining."

"I still say that's a better deal than being stuck in the same room with you for an extended period of time," she retorted, and he quieted down.

That was it for the longest time, and they just sat there while she did what she could to heal him over the next half-hour. _He really managed to mess his arm up,_ she thought as she tried to mend the broken bones. _He's lucky that van didn't do worse_.

Beast Boy had been flying to Cyborg's aid in the form of a pterodactyl when Plasmus decided to pick up a vacant van and throw it at the green changeling from behind. Beast Boy saw it coming at the last second, but he didn't have much maneuverability as a pterodactyl. He got smashed into a brick wall with the vehicle, effectively snapping his upper arm… or wing, you could say, not to mention it gave him a pretty good concussion. She was surprised he wasn't complaining at all about the concussion or his arm, considering she could tell how much it hurt.

"Hey Raven?" he said suddenly after awhile. She looked up to him. "Thanks."

"For what?" she asked.

"Well, I know there's probably a million other things you'd rather be doing," he said. "I know you don't really like me that much, and it probably annoys the heck out of you that you have to do this for me."

"Don't worry about it," she replied, thinking about what he'd just said. It wasn't that she didn't really like him. In fact, she cared about him a lot, but he just annoyed her too much most of the time. Admittedly, though, she was sometimes glad when he tried to make her laugh. She would never let him know that, though.

There was another silence, this one not quite as long, though. It lasted for a few minutes, until Beast Boy looked up at her again. "Raven?"

"What?" she replied, still trying to concentrate.

"Well, um… I don't know, I was just thinking about something and, uh…" he faltered, unsure of his words.

"Spit it out," she said, hoping he would just get to the point.

"Well, I've been wondering lately…" he began. "You know how each of us have a real name and a superhero name? Like Robin's real name is Richard, and Starfire is Koriand'r, and Cyborg is Victor, and I'm Gar, you know what I mean?"

She nodded, guessing at what he was going to ask but letting him keep going.

"Is Raven your real name, or do you have another name?" he asked.

She sighed, wondering what the best way to explain this was. It was a confusing thing to explain, so she never really did. No one ever asked her that question anyway, so she'd never bothered to prepare an answer. In all honesty, she was surprised that Beast Boy, of all the people on the team, had been the one to ask her this question.

"Raven is my real name," she told him. "But I have another name."

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked, wincing as she began to heal another part of his arm. "How does someone have two names?"

She could understand why he was confused, so she paused for a second to think about her explanation. "My mother was born on Earth, and her name was Angela Roth," she began slowly. "When she was taken to Azarath, she was given a new name. That name was Arella."

"Okay," Beast Boy said with a strained voice that leveled out once she focused the spell over his arm better.

"When I was born, I was given the name Raven, but my mother also gave me another name, more common on Earth," she went on.

"What name?" Beast Boy asked, very much interested. She had never thought about him as a very good listener, since he was always just telling his own stories anyway, but he had rapt attention on her.

"Rachel," she replied, as if it wasn't a very big deal at all. "Rachel Roth. I prefer Raven, though."

"Hmm," Beast Boy said, looking up in thought. "Well, Rae still works for both Raven and Rachel. I like Rachel, it's a nice name."

She didn't really respond to that, still working on the changeling's arm.

"Let's see, Raven Rachel Roth," he said, then gave a content sigh. "Three R's. Why didn't you tell us that before?"

"You never asked," she replied. She'd never been one to tell people that much about herself. She didn't really care for deep conversations, or conversations in general.

"What was Azarath like?" Beast Boy asked. "What was it like to live there? What was your mom like?"

She glanced up at him, wondering what was causing the green Titan to ask so many questions, and why he hadn't asked these questions before now. They'd been on the team together for a couple of years now.

He seemed to catch her bewildered look. "We're stuck in the same room together until my arm's better. We might as well not sit in silence."

"Yeah, because we all know how much you can't stand silence," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"You're right, I don't like it when things are quiet most of the time. I like to fill the silence," he said, giving a shrug that caused him to wince. "But if we're just gonna sit here, we should at least make some use of the time, right?"

For once, the arrogant and annoying green changeling had used a reasonable amount of logic. Still, she didn't really know how to handle something like that. No one ever really asked her about her past, and so she had never really talked on the subject too much.

"What was Azarath like?" he asked again, prompting her.

She started talking. "It was a peaceful realm. A lot of the people there came from Earth originally," she said, thinking back to it. "I was trained by Azar, one of the spiritual leaders. Azar taught me meditation and control." She remembered the monk well, and smiled slightly.

When she looked up, Beast Boy was smiling at her, although he quickly dropped his eyes once she saw him. His smile lingered, though.

"I stayed in the temple most of my life. I didn't meet very many people, but the people I did meet stuck around," she said, getting into the story. "They didn't seem to care about the prophecy, about how I was supposed to be evil. They still smiled down at me."

"Sounds like you knew some good people," Beast Boy said. "What about your mom?"

"She was calm, kind, and caring. The thing I remember most about her is how much she loved doves," she went on. "I left Azarath when I turned fourteen."

There was a thoughtful silence afterward, and then she suddenly found herself curious about the boy sitting beside her. She didn't know about his past, either, besides the Doom Patrol.

She decided to give in to her curiosity. "What about you?" she asked.

He looked up at her, dumbstruck. "Huh?" he asked, not expecting her to reciprocate his natural curiosity.

"Where did you grow up?" she asked. "What was your family like? Why don't we know about you and your past?"

He gave a small laugh. "You never asked," he said, clearly referring to what she'd said earlier.

"Well, I'm asking now," she replied.

He laughed again. "I guess I can give you some insight," he said in a light-hearted manner. "My parents were geneticists, so they'd travel the world to study different wild animals, not really surprising when you think of me. They took me everywhere they went, and the jungle is the best school there is. It's the best place to grow up," Beast Boy told her. "I lived in Brazil, India, but mostly Africa. That's where I was born. I actually know Swahili, along with another couple languages besides English."

She widened her eyes, having no idea that Beast Boy was multilingual. She never considered him having the brain power to master anything besides English. In fact, she thought it was a wonder that he even mastered English.

"My parents were awesome," Beast Boy went on. "They loved to joke around, talk with each other, or even sing songs."

"That explains you," she said.

"Yeah, that's why I don't like things to stay quiet for very long. Force of habit, like with my parents," he replied. "Well, when I was a kid, my parents started studying a rare species of monkey that was green. I got bit by one, and got sick with a disease called Sakutia. My parents healed me with a new serum. A few days later, I woke up with green skin, eyes, and hair. That was when I first started morphing into different animals."

She remained quiet during all of this, trying to imagine what Beast Boy must have looked like before he turned green.

"I used to have olive skin, brown hair, and blue eyes," Beast Boy told her, like he'd read her mind.

"What happened to your parents?" she asked, now very interested in the story.

Beast Boy's face went from light-hearted to serious in an instant. "I got away, but I could've saved them. I could've done something…" he whispered, then looked at her. "We had a boating accident. I survived. They didn't."

She didn't quite know how to respond to this, so she just gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. It was apparently enough, because he smiled up at her. She found herself liking spending this time with Beast Boy.

She realized she liked talking to him.

"My parents and I made up a game once, right after I first started morphing. It was to help me control my powers better," he said. "I'd turn into as many animals as I can in a minute."

"Why don't you show me?" she asked.

"I'm not supposed to morph until my arm is-"

"Better?" she finished for him. "I finished healing your arm five minutes ago."

"Oh, so sitting here stuck with me isn't as torturous as you thought?" he asked with a smile on his face before he hopped out of the bed.

Standing there in the middle of the floor, the first thing he changed into surprised her, and she realized how intensely he'd been paying attention to what she'd told him before, because he had turned into a little green dove.

Beast Boy then proceeded to morph into dozens of different animals at such a rapid rate that she couldn't even see a lot of the things he changed into. There was a hippo here, a giraffe there, a wolf somewhere in the mix. He turned into an odd menagerie of birds and reptiles, mammals and fish, so many that as soon as he'd become one thing he'd already be transforming into another.

Then all of a sudden, the transformations stopped, and sitting there on the white tile floor was a glossy green raven. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly, and he lingered as a raven for a moment more before changing back into a boy.

"Thanks, Raven Rachel Roth," he said, straightening up. "Thanks for everything."

She really smiled then. "Thanks for listening, Gar."

It was a moment of insight.

* * *

**(A/N) There you go. This one didn't feel quite as natural as the others, but I still liked it. What did you guys think?**


	4. Shot

**(A/N) I've got a big one planned for you all today! I've been polishing up this baby for over a week, saving it for a special occasion. Today's my sixteenth birthday, and this is my present to all of you! Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Shot**_

_He had a gun. They never have guns._

Every villain they'd ever faced played the game the way it was supposed to be played. They used amazing weaponry, like bombs, ray guns, or lasers. They used their own powers, like electricity, telekinesis, or speed. They fought with their hands, using their own natural skills. Something so simple as a regular handgun was almost… laughable.

The villain didn't start out looking laughable. He wore a black mask, typical of some of the criminals, and a black suit and cape. He was all black. Even his hair was black. He blended into the shadows of the city night, which was probably the intended effect.

"Titans, go!" Robin had exclaimed when they got the alert, something he always did when they were informed of a crime.

So they geared up and headed into the city, beginning the search for whichever villain it was this time. Raven gave sideways glances at Beast Boy the entire time, most of them being angry glares. She had a fight with him again that morning, once again about him being stupid. She didn't really want to think about it, though, considering they were on a mission.

"What's the data on this one, Cyborg?" Robin, running below her on the ground, asked as they traveled at high speeds through the streets. Raven stuck to the back like always, keeping an eye out. She did her best to ignore the green changeling flying beside her in the form of a falcon.

"Robbed a bank, last seen heading down Gilbert Avenue," Cyborg said, reading from the computer in his arm. "Reports say he's armed and dangerous."

It didn't take them long to locate the criminal. He was a suspicious character to begin with - what with the fact that he was carrying two sacks filled to the top with, presumably, money - but Raven was also using her ability to sense his presence. With that, they tracked him down pretty fast, finding him running down a narrow side street.

That was when she first saw the gun, only spotting a quick shine of the metal from its place at the man's side, but it was enough for her to realize what it was. He didn't reach for his gun when he saw them though, instead pulling out a long staff, much like Robin's bo-staff. He glared at them through his mask. Now they were facing off a strange criminal, one they had no background knowledge of.

"Sorry, but you're not walking away with that money," she heard Robin say. "Titans, go!"

They began their attack, not going as hard as usual because the man seemed to be an easy target. They were wrong. He was slippery, never speaking at all and remaining undetected in the clouds of smoke that emerged with the attack from Starfire's starbolts. Raven flew down inside the cloud, trying to sense the man's location, but she couldn't pin him down.

"We know you're in there!" she heard Robin yell. "Show yourself!"

"Yeah, like that'll make him come out," she deadpanned in response to Robin's words. She was a little frustrated herself, but such irritation was pointless.

"I'll track him," she heard Beast Boy say from nearby, but she had no idea where he or anyone else was. Raven was stuck within the clouds of smoke. This couldn't have just been from Starfire's starbolts. The guy must have had a smoke bomb.

_That's not all he has,_ she thought. She didn't know why she was focusing on that gun. They'd faced far worse weapons before and survived with, most of the time, not even a few scratches. They went away unscathed from nearly every battle they went into. There were few occasions in which any of them became injured in a fight, and the injuries were usually minor and never life-threatening. So why was she so worried over a stupid gun?

From nearby, she heard the distinctive sound of Beast Boy's angry barking - he had probably morphed into a dog or wolf - followed by a scuffle.

"Beast Boy, where are you?" she called into the smoke, following the sounds as best as she could, hoping to be able to catch Beast Boy and the criminal once she got there.

She followed the sounds of the scuffling, finally breaking through to a clear spot within the clouds just in time to feel something pinning to her back. A second later a current of electricity coursed through her, and she felt her muscles suddenly stop working. She hit the ground, and her vision faded to black.

* * *

_Flashes of images passed before her eyes, all of them very familiar, because they had all taken place at a time earlier that day. These flashes formed a scene, a kind of dream._

_Raven caught sight of the falling green form in the sky. _What is that?_ she thought for a moment, perplexed. Her eyes widened with the realization of what this falling thing was, and she acted fast to send out a field of my magic underneath him, managing to catch him on the platform it provided. He righted himself and flew back into the air._

_"Beast Boy, what are you doing?" she yelled sternly, trying to not let her true feelings into her voice. What she was feeling was akin to panic, but she didn't even want to acknowledge that, especially not for Beast Boy._

_He flew down to the ground beside her after his mishap, morphing from falcon form back into a human. "Hey Raven," he greeted, sounding somewhat nervous at the tone of her voice. "I was practicing. I was doing some free-falling and stuff."_

_"You almost got yourself killed with that stupid stunt," she spat at him._

_"No, no!" he said, trying to deny what she had seen._

_"You almost hit the water, Beast Boy. I saw you tumbling," she told him, her anger at the scare growing. "You couldn't start flying again. You would've been killed if I wasn't here."_

_Beast Boy glared at her, sending a spike of surprise through her. "Whatever!" he exclaimed. "If I choose to do stupid stuff, it's because I like to do it! It's my choice!"_

_"Yeah, well you're choice nearly got you killed," she retorted, careful to not betray the shock of fear she had felt when she'd seen him falling. "Next time, use your head! Don't be so stupid."_

_"Gee, Raven, I didn't know you cared so much," he said._

_Both of them registered the shock of those words, and for a second she thought he might apologize for them and take them back. He didn't though, and instead walked away with a steady gaze that wasn't exactly angry, sorry, guilty, or happy. She was left there with those words running through her mind. _Gee, Raven, I didn't know you cared so much.

_Of course she cared. If she didn't care, she would've left right after catching him. It was the fact that she cared that led her to say what she said. Her problem was that she was beginning to care too much, and that was something she didn't want to deal with. She couldn't deny it, though. Over the past few weeks, she'd begun to notice all the little things about the changeling. The way he walked, the jokes he gave, his smile._

_That, in and of itself, was the problem. She cared. That was what caused the fight, and it just made her angry. She knew she shouldn't have been feeling that way, that it was dangerous, but she still felt angry. So, she walked away with that feeling, hoping it would make her stop noticing everything about him._  
***

_He has a gun._ That was her first thought as she came to minutes later. There was no time to worry about that, though. She had to get out of the smoke and see what was going on. She levitated above the ground, shaking off the dizziness from unconsciousness. The man must have had some kind of taser on him.

She flew up above the clouds, seeing the others on the ground, slouched up against the walls of the building. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. The only one that was missing was…

"Beast Boy," she whispered, searching the streets for him, then saw the criminal running ahead up the street. Beast Boy was on his tail, running in the form of a German Shepherd.

Robin was just beginning to wake up as she flew up above the buildings, trying to head the criminal off. Robin shook himself off, then began to follow Beast Boy as he was chasing the man. The villain turned down one alleyway, and Beast Boy followed, while she tried to catch up. The alley came into her field of vision, and she saw that the man had stopped, as the end of the alleyway was blocked by a wooden fence. Beast Boy morphed back into a human, ready to catch the criminal.

She saw the shine of the metal again, and her eyes widened with fear. The criminal turned towards Beast Boy, his mouth curved into a triumphant grin, before reaching down to his belt. He pulled the gun from his side. She became even paler as it dawned on her that she would never reach them in time.

"Beast Boy," she whispered, seeing the realization coming over the changeling's face as he continued running. The narrow alleyway offered no chance of him dodging to the side as he ran, and it was too late to double back towards the entrance to the alley. It was all happening too fast, the man locking his fingers around the gun and Beast Boy attempting to think through the reality of the situation. She could see the thoughts inside him slowing in confusion, making it impossible for him to realize he had to morph for him to have any chance of escape. Instead, a kind of resolve then came over his face as she watched him beginning to run faster, not away from the man, but towards him, giving one last shot at catching the criminal. It was too late, though, and she watched the man raised the gun, pointed directly at Beast Boy.

There was an explosion, and she saw Beast Boy's legs buckle out from underneath him. She saw him topple over and hit the ground.

"No!" she yelled, darting down to the ground beside Beast Boy while the man jumped the fence over the alley. She dimly registered Robin running past them in hot pursuit of the criminal.

She turned the limp boy over to his back and her eyes widened with fear at the growing cloud of red soaking over his clothes and pooling on the ground. She looked at his face and relief flooded her to see that his eyes were open and focused. He was alive, but he was beginning to fade. The wound was in his gut, and it looked bad. Very bad. Beast Boy had been shot, and he was going to die if something wasn't done.

She heard the approach of her friends, but paid them no mind as she ripped the clothing around his abdomen away and began to get to work. She was a healer, and if Beast Boy had any chance of living, she would have to start healing now.

"Did we catch the dude? What'd we miss?" Cyborg called to her as he and Starfire came up, then abruptly stopped a few feet away. "Oh, man…"

"What is the matter with friend Beast Boy?!" asked Starfire frantically.

She gave a quick glance to the two Titans. "Shot!" was all she managed to get out to her friends as a response, as she was intensely focused on her task at hand. She had her hands hovering over the wound, a glowing beginning to take form over the boy.

"Rae…" Beast Boy muttered as she worked on him. She did her best to ignore the pain in his voice.

"I got him, guys!" she heard Robin call from down the alley as he hopped over the fence, heaving with him a man tied in ropes with a gag in his mouth. "I got him. Why were you all sticking around here?" Robin stopped dead, and she heard him drop the man to the ground with a thud. "Oh, Beast Boy…"

She listened as Robin ran up to them, dropping to his knees alongside the others and looking Beast Boy over. She heard the changeling's gasps as he attempted to catch a breath, and could see him shuddering. She kept on trying to heal him, though, even though the cloud of red on his stomach was growing, even though he was already fading too fast. She tried desperately to keep him alive.

"Raven, stop," Beast Boy said, grabbing her hand. Tears were running down her face now as she frantically attempted to heal him, and she didn't stop even though his hand was grabbing onto hers. She kept going, even though he was telling her to stop. "Raven, look at me."

And so she looked at him. He was smiling, despite the pain in his eyes. She was sure she had never seen him smile like that. That smile was so full of life, despite the fact that the life was draining from him. Like he was feeling more alive now than when he was… okay. "Beast Boy," she whispered, betraying her true emotions.

She went back to healing him, even though his hand suddenly went limp in hers. She kept going, even though his ragged breathing had stopped. She kept going, because she couldn't accept him leaving her. She kept going. She kept trying to heal him.

"Raven, stop," she heard Robin say, as he grasped her shoulder. "It's too late." Robin's words were firm, gentle, and mournful. "It's too late. He's gone."

The power stopped flowing from her hands, and she looked down at the boy laying in front of her. His eyes had closed. His chest had stopped moving. The hand that had gripped hers moments before now lay limply across his body. He was… dead. He was dead._ No,_ she thought, her eyes glued to his form. He looked like he could have been asleep there, if it weren't for all the blood. Beside her, she heard Starfire begin to sob and Cyborg fall back against the ground in disbelief. Robin's hand was still firmly clasped on her shoulder.

"It's over," Robin told her, but she wasn't listening. Her hands were on Beast Boy's chest. She could feel the energy within. _He's still in there…_

"No!" she said forcefully, shaking Robin's hand from her shoulder. "No! It's _not over!_"

She repositioned her body into the lotus position, began to levitate, and closed her eyes. Her breathing and heartbeat became synchronized with the pulsating power within her. Her mouth opened, and out came three words.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

When she opened her eyes, they were glowing bright white, and then her soul-self floated away from her body. All of a sudden, she was launching herself into the body of Beast Boy. Her soul touched his, and they locked firmly together. Both her body and Beast Boy's were suddenly cloaked in bright white light. Powers manifested within them, and she could feel her own strength being leached away from her, until she was so weak she could hardly keep the spell going. Just a little longer…

Just as she thought she might fade away, something amazing happened. Beast Boy's heart gave a couple erratic _thump-thumps,_ then began to beat again, and his chest moved up and down with his breathing. Her work was done, and she detached her soul from his. She went back into her own body, then collapsed to the ground, her vision blurred and her limbs heavy as lead.

"What did you do, Raven?" asked Robin, looking between her and Beast Boy, whose eyes had now opened and were looking weakly around.

With a massive effort, she turned her head to him. They were laying beside each other. She could hear sirens from ambulances approaching, and smiled despite herself. Beast Boy turned to look at her, his eyes still pained from the wound, which had continued bleeding.

"I gave you some of my strength, some of my life," she told him weakly. "Now you have a chance."

"Rae…" he said, trailing off. "Thank you."

She didn't know whether he realized the significance of what she had done, but she guessed he did. By giving him part of her life, she had put herself at risk as well. She was incredibly weak, and was now in just as much danger as Beast Boy was of dying.

Still, she smiled. "No problem," she told him.

"Neither of you should be talking," she heard Robin say as the paramedics lifted her and Beast Boy onto gurneys. "Stay quiet, save your strength. We'll see you at the hospital."

She could see the paramedics wheeling her and Beast Boy towards the ambulances. Just before they were pulled up onto the ambulance, she reached out a hand to his gurney, only to find his hand already outstretched. They interlaced their fingers together, locking them as tightly as they could. That was when she realized that she'd do anything for him. Anything.

"Sorry about the fight," Beast Boy said.

"Me too."

For both of them, just hearing the other's voice, still alive, was enough to bring their strength back. They knew what it meant that both of them were still there, and they reveled in each other's presence.

It was a moment of gratitude.

* * *

**(A/N) This was my favorite one to write so far. How'd you guys like it? It's review time!**


	5. Guardian

**(A/N) Hello everyone! Thanks for all the birthday wishes, it was a good birthday. I'm here with another installment of Moments, enjoy!**

* * *

_**Guardian**_

"I gotcha, Rae," he told her gently, betraying a bit of the panic in his voice as he scanned the area from left to right. The danger was gone for the moment. "How does something like this just happen?" he wondered aloud.

Really, the circumstances were perfect. At least, for whatever this thing was. The team was nowhere to be seen, Raven was currently incapacitated, and now there was something coming back for him and the semi-conscious girl, with him being the only one to defend them both. He didn't even know what this thing was. It came in after the crash, and all he had seen were a few dark blurs and then the team was gone. He and Raven were the only ones left.

One thing was for sure, though. He couldn't defend them if they were left in the open like this.

"I gotcha," he told her again, picking her up bridal style and beginning to run through the woods, his feet sloshing in the puddles. He barely noticed the rain pelting him or that his clothes were soaked. All that mattered was getting away from here.

"Beast Boy…" she murmured, furrowing her eyebrows at the jolting movements as he ran. Her fair skin was even paler than normal, and she looked to him like she was going to be sick.

There was a blast and crash from behind them, then a few more crashes, a little closer. Whatever this thing was, it was gaining on them… fast. He quickly realized that they wouldn't stand a chance if he remained in his human form. He just wasn't fast enough.

"Raven, can you stand?" he asked the semi-conscious girl. Her eyes weren't even open, but she gave him a shaky nod. He set her down on her feet, but not really making her stand on her own. He then proceeded to pick her up like he was going to give her a piggyback ride. She could do nothing but go along with it in her weakened state. "Okay, Raven, listen to me," he told her. "You have to hang on to me right now, because I'm going to morph. Whatever you do, just keep holding on."

She murmured something in reply, which he took for a weak yes. In less than a half-second, he changed into an Arabian horse, with Raven on his back gripping onto him weakly. He didn't waste any time, because behind him he could still hear the crashing sounds, now dangerously close. He started to run at blazing speeds, going as gently as he could for Raven's sake.

_This is definitely not our lucky day,_ he thought as he ran. Everything seemed to be going wrong for the Titans today. He could clearly see the bitter flashes of the terrifying event that had occurred less than an hour before. They were flying through the raging storm in the T-Ship, heading back home after meeting with the Titans East in Steele City. He remembered they were going over a state or national forest when the lightning hit the T-Ship. He remembered that flash of light, and how an impenetrable darkness seemed to follow as the power on the ship went out. He remembered the horrible sensation of their vessel falling from the sky, and he remembered Robin's voice barking out commands. He remembered Cyborg's voice saying, "Prepare for impact!" He closed his eyes after that.

He wasn't sure whether he'd been unconscious at all after the crash, but he remembered that the next time he'd opened his eyes, they were on the ground, and he distinctly smelled the acrid scent of smoke in the air. His head was pounding, but he had ignored it as he crawled through the broken windshield into the small clearing they'd landed in.

The others got out soon after him, all of them seeming no worse for wear, all except for Raven. Hers was the only compartment of the T-Ship that was beyond their reach, as the opening was blocked by a crushed piece of metal. The rest of her compartment didn't look too good either. Starfire and Cyborg had pried off the metal blocking the way, and he and Robin managed to crawl in and get the unconscious girl out. She didn't show any visible injuries, but the crash had definitely done something. Robin was already on his communicator, calling the Titans East for help.

That was when _it_ attacked, and he had no clue as to what this _it_ was. It was fast, big, and pitch black. That was all he had gathered, because it had come in so fast. It was so fast that all he had seen were a few flashes, and then the others were all gone, disappeared into the night. The only ones left were him and Raven.

_Talk about bad luck,_ he thought. _These things come in right after we crash. I guess the odds just weren't on our side today._

He flicked his ears backwards, trying to pick up the sounds of the creature, but it was an unnecessary move. He would have had to have been deaf to not know where it was, considering the ear-splitting crashes the thing was making. If he didn't know any better, he would think the creature was tearing down the entire forest in an attempt to catch them.

What was confusing him was that, if this thing was so fast, then why hadn't it caught them yet? Before, the creature had moved so fast that he couldn't even tell what it looked like. What was keeping it back now?

And suddenly he was skidding through the mud, his hooves no longer running and scrambling to cling to the ground in an attempt to stop. He went so abruptly that Raven was thrown from his back, and she went tumbling to the ground. Even before he stopped completely, even before he'd morphed back into a human, he realized he'd gotten his answer. Pairs of eyes, just triangular shapes glowing white against the darkness, were in front of them, behind them, completely surrounding them.

"There's not just one of these things," he realized. "And I just ran straight into a trap." Like a pack of wolves working together against their prey, that creature had chased them right into the rest of its pack. "Yeah, well, I don't go down without a fight!"

Even as the words left his mouth, he realized that he wasn't just fighting for himself, and he looked over to the girl laying in the grass, struggling to open her eyes. He had to protect her, too. That meant getting out of this hell hole. He morphed into a gorilla and gently picked up the semi-conscious empath, then looked around, scanning his options, if he even had any. He prayed there were still a few available options.

Just to show that he meant business, he let out a deep and massive roar towards all the creatures, one that scared even him. He roared such a loud, chilling cry from his gorilla lungs, so frightening that he could hear fearful animals scurrying for cover. Even the leaves on the trees vibrated, and a few of them fell lazily to the ground. That roar turned into something angry, something raw. It was a warning, that if any of the creatures hurt him or Raven, they would be paying for it dearly. The creatures seemed to pause at this roar, hesitating before making their move, so he made his. He saw the smallest of openings in the rows of blank white eyes, and he ran through it, back into the shadowy forest.

He scanned the area while running, listening for any change in the way the streams of water sounded, anything different from the steady downpour of rain. He listened, searching for another sound, like the sound of water running over something, then pouring onto another surface, like how water runs off the stone walls of a cave. And he found it, and he followed this sound. Then he saw it, a good sized cave surrounded by fallen trees. If he could get them in there, he only had to defend the entrance. His parents had taught him something similar when they were living in the jungle, but it was only to guard against prowling predators at night. Now, he'd adapted it to the monsters that were chasing them.

He dived inside the cave, quickly laying Raven on the stone floor and leaping back to the cave entrance. He glanced at one of the fallen trees, an idea forming. He gripped the sides of the trunk and dragged it towards the entrance using his gorilla strength, all the while hearing the approaching sounds of the mob of creatures. Their guttural cries sent chills down his spine, and he moved even faster. He pulled the tree over the cave, then grabbed a second. On the third, he pulled it over the entrance behind him, sealing them inside somewhat.

It was then that he morphed back into a human. He guessed that to Raven, it was probably pitch black in the cave. He, however, had enhanced vision due to his ability to change into animals. His senses were magnified in his human form, so he could clearly see everything around him. He walked up to the girl, kneeling beside her.

"You okay?" he asked her.

She murmured something in reply, but he could tell she was too weak to give a definite answer. With the threat of the creatures a little less apparent now, he began to feel real worry about the girl laying there in front of him. The crash had definitely taken its toll on the empath.

"Don't worry, Rae. We're all gonna be fine," he told her in a calming voice, more for his sake than hers. He wouldn't be able to do anything for anyone if he gave into the panic that was beginning to tear at him. "We're gonna be fine. As soon as these guys leave, we're gonna go find Robin and Starfire and Cyborg. Then we'll go home, and we can forget about all of this."

The only problem was that he didn't know whether the others were alive or dead, and he didn't know how he was going to find them when he had to stay and protect Raven.

"One battle at a time, I guess," he whispered to himself.

When he looked back at Raven, he realized she had begun to levitate, and she was in a rigid position with her hands at her sides and her body completely straight. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was calm. He vaguely remembered a similar image of her like this, after the incident with the Beast and Adonis, when she was hurt and healing herself.

"Raven?" he said, checking to make sure that this was indeed the case. Then, suddenly, crashing sounds emitted from the cave entrance. He looked back to see the tree trunks stacked at the entrance being rattled as the creatures on the outside began to ram into them. "Not good, not good! Bad, bad, very bad!" he exclaimed as the trunks began to crack under the crushing weight of the creatures.

Clearing his mind, he quickly transformed into a grizzly bear and took his position at the cave entrance, preparing for what he knew was about to come. There was a crash, followed by silence, then another crash, and another. Then, with one final assault on the tree trunks, there was an ear-splitting crack, and the trunks broke away. At the entrance were several shining pairs of eyes. Beast Boy found himself letting out a thunderous roar as he charged the creature at the opening of the cave, raking his claws across the spot where he'd seen the black blur. It was gone by the time his claws met the mark, but there were others to fill its place.

That was when he saw them for the first time. They looked a lot like Plasmus in shape, but they were blacker than coal and each had two small triangular shaped eyes, glowing white in contrast to the dark bodies. Each was a bit larger than him in his sasquatch form. Their mouths emitted sharp hisses, hiding wicked teeth. They were in crouched positions, ready to attack.

_Forest shadows,_ he thought, before he began to lunge at them, swiping his giant paws at the creatures. They dodged, though, every time. Each moved like lightning, darting past him. He ran back inside the cave to where they'd gone past him, charging them. One was hunched over the unmoving form of Raven, about to strike, and he barreled straight into it. He would die before they touched a single hair on her head.

That was when he realized just how much he meant those words.

The rest of the creatures, a couple dozen in number, lunged at him then, and he raked his claws through the air. He turned into an ankylosaurus, swinging his bony tail against a group of the shadowy creatures. He turned into a kangaroo and kicked a few out of his way, then into a rhino and charged the things while they continued to come back for more. He just knocked them back again.

He turned back into a human. "What are you?!" he shouted. They gathered themselves at the entrance, lurking like true shadows. He put on an unusual display of confidence. "Well, you're not getting us too! So come and get it!"

He turned into a gorilla, grabbing one of the creatures by the leg and swinging it into a few of the others, knocking them back like bowling pins. He stood between them and Raven, standing up straight and letting out a warning growl. A few of them came back, darting towards him in a blur and letting out chilling shrill screeches. He just put on a scowl and punched at them with his massive fists, leaping on top of them and kicking them away before punching another away. They simply gathered back at the entrance to the cave, like none of it even fazed them.

He was breathing harder, beginning to feel the effects the battle was having on him. He glared at the creatures, morphing into a grizzly bear again. They collected themselves and, with more ear-splitting cries, they all lunged in at once, tackling him to the ground. There were teeth trying to tear at him, claws attempting to rip him open. With all of his strength, he leaped to his feet, tossing them all off. He glared at them with fire in his eyes and opened his jaws, letting out a roar louder than thunder, and this time he could actually feel the cave shaking with it. He roared with all his voice, telling these creatures to back off, or there would be hell to pay. And they did.

Their stances became rigid, then they all abruptly ran from the cave.

He thought they were all gone, and he morphed back into a human, dropping to his knees and letting out a sigh of relief. However, when he looked up, he saw one more pair of white triangular eyes, darting towards him. He closed his eyes, preparing to feel claws dig into him, teeth ripping him apart. Nothing came, though. The pain he expected never arrived. When he looked up, the creature wasn't coming at him, but it was slowly approaching the form of the unconscious girl.

"No!" he yelled with as much force as he could, then changed into a wolf.

He ran at the thing, leaping up at its black form and clamping his jaws closed on its arm. The creature let out a pained howl and thrashed him around, and it was all he could do to just hang on while he felt the creature's blood running through his mouth. The creature slammed him into a wall of the cave again and again, each time rattling his skeleton, and then with one final thrash, he found himself tumbling through the air and connecting with a painful slam against the other wall of the cave. He collapsed to the ground, pain ripping through his front leg, along with a trickle of blood running over his green fur.

He looked back up at the creature, who was again approaching the unconscious girl. _No,_ he thought. _I don't give up that easily._ With the last of his strength, he ran on his three functioning legs and leaping up on the black hide of the shadow again, letting out a savage growl as his teeth clamped on the back of its neck. The creature was thrown to the floor, and Beast Boy landed not so gracefully on his feet, snarling at the thing.

He let out a few furious barks, baring his sharp white teeth. The creature looked up at him with fear in its own eyes, before scrambling to its feet. It ran from the cave, and then it was just him and Raven.

He couldn't afford to morph back into a human, not with the creatures still out there. So he limped back to Raven, letting out a whimper at the pain he felt in his front leg. Raven was no longer levitating, and was now laying limply on the cold cave floor, breathing steadily as if she were asleep. She looked like she was shivering. He watched her for a minute, then laid his body against hers to keep her warm, and despite himself, he could feel himself smiling inwardly. He briefly wondered whether he should be embarrassed, but knew that it didn't matter at the moment.

That was where he stayed as he fought to keep his eyes open, desperate to keep watch over this girl, his friend. He had to stay awake, because his job wasn't over. He had to protect her. As fatigue tried to take hold of him, he kept his eyes open in alert watchfulness, long into the night. It wasn't until the first wisps of daylight crept into the cave that he finally relaxed, somehow knowing that the danger had passed. Call it instinct, but he knew that with daylight, the creatures would not be coming back. He closed his eyes, letting unconsciousness take him in its warm embrace.

* * *

Light invaded the darkness surrounding him, pulling him back into the real world. As the light came in slowly, he could feel hands shaking him gently, as well as voices in the air. They called to him, asking for him to come back, to leave behind the dreamless landscape. He wanted to stay, but it was already too late. He opened his eyes, taking in blurry images.

"Beast Boy, you okay?" came the voice. It was Aqualad.

_What happened?_ he thought. Of course, he could hear these thoughts with his telepathy.

"The Titans East got your distress call. The others are here, and they found your team. They spent the night holed up in a ditch fighting the creatures," Aqualad said. "Everyone's okay."

He transformed back into a human, feeling an intense ache in his head and throbbing pain in his arm. "I think I sprained my arm," he told the Atlantian, also noticing the gash in the spot where his arm had hit the cave wall, as well as the trickle of blood now drying in his uniform. He looked back up at Aqualad. "You said everyone's okay?"

Aqualad nodded. "Yep, everyone's safe and sound."

"Raven, too? She was hurt in the crash," he said.

"She healed herself, Beast Boy."

"So, the creatures didn't get to her?" he asked, still unsure.

"They didn't touch her. You made sure of that," Aqualad replied, smiling. Beast Boy got shakily to his feet, walking to the entrance of the cave alongside the Atlantian.

When he got to the entrance of the cave, he saw them all there. The Titans East ship was in the clearing, and the others were crowded around it. Robin was talking with Speedy, and Starfire was with Bumblebee, while Mas y Menos were zipping around with spare parts from their ship, attempting to talk to Cyborg about the downed T-Ship, while Cyborg stood there trying to understand their Spanish. Then he saw her, sitting on the side of one of the ship's wings, looking how she looked any other day. He walked up to her, sitting down beside her.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied in her usual monotone. He caught her looking at the cut on his arm. "I know what you did for me. Thanks."

"You would've done the same thing," he replied, smiling at her. He didn't tell her, but he couldn't even describe what he felt like when he thought the creatures were going to get her. It was an intense fear, but with it were other things. She was one of his best friends, but even that couldn't describe it.

"Are you okay?" she asked, still looking at the wound.

"It's stopped bleeding," he replied, still smiling. "I'll be fine. I'm just glad that all that's over."

"Still, thanks," she said. Even though her mouth wasn't smiling, her eyes were. That was enough for him.

"No problem," he replied, brushing his good hand against hers. "No problem."

As he looked into her eyes, he suddenly knew what those feelings were.

_I'm definitely in trouble,_ he thought as the revelation came to him. He let the feelings wash through him, and he felt himself calming. _And I'm okay with that._

It was a moment of peace.

* * *

**(A/N) I haven't really been into this over the past couple weeks, so don't really expect very much.**


End file.
